A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells
Abstract Exploring lanthanide light upconversion (UC) has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance the near-infrared (NIR) responsive region of silicon solar cells (SSCs). However, its practical application under normal sunlight conditions has been hindered by the narrow NIR excitation bandwidth a...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Light: Science & Applications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-024-01661-5 |
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| author | Yue Wang Wen Xu Haichun Liu Yuhan Jing Donglei Zhou Yanan Ji Jerker Widengren Xue Bai Hongwei Song |
| author_facet | Yue Wang Wen Xu Haichun Liu Yuhan Jing Donglei Zhou Yanan Ji Jerker Widengren Xue Bai Hongwei Song |
| author_sort | Yue Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Exploring lanthanide light upconversion (UC) has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance the near-infrared (NIR) responsive region of silicon solar cells (SSCs). However, its practical application under normal sunlight conditions has been hindered by the narrow NIR excitation bandwidth and the low UC efficiency of conventional materials. Here, we report the design of an efficient multiband UC system based on Ln3+/Yb3+-doped core-shell upconversion nanoparticles (Ln/Yb-UCNPs, Ln3+ = Ho3+, Er3+, Tm3+). In our design, Ln3+ ions are incorporated into distinct layers of Ln/Yb-UCNPs to function as near-infrared (NIR) absorbers across different spectral ranges. This design achieves broad multiband absorption withtin the 1100 to 2200 nm range, with an aggregated bandwidth of ~500 nm. We have identified a synthetic electron pumping (SEP) effect involving Yb3+ ions, facilitated by the synergistic interplay of energy transfer and cross-relaxation between Yb3+ and other ions Ln3+ (Ho3+, Er3+, Tm3+). This SEP effect enhances the UC efficiency of the nanomaterials by effectively transferring electrons from the low-excited states of Ln3+ to the excited state of Yb3+, resulting in intense Yb3+ luminescence at ~980 nm within the optimal response region for SSCs, thus markedly improving their overall performance. The SSCs integrated with Ln/Yb-UCNPs with multiband excitation demonstrate the largest reported NIR response range up to 2200 nm, while enabling the highest improvement in absolute photovoltaic efficiency reported, with an increase of 0.87% (resulting in a total efficiency of 19.37%) under standard AM 1.5 G irradiation. Our work tackles the bottlenecks in UCNP-coupled SSCs and introduces a viable approach to extend the NIR response of SSCs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7dea40dd5cce4845b173de20f9947a4e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2047-7538 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Light: Science & Applications |
| spelling | doaj-art-7dea40dd5cce4845b173de20f9947a4e2025-08-20T02:49:09ZengNature Publishing GroupLight: Science & Applications2047-75382024-11-0113111110.1038/s41377-024-01661-5A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cellsYue Wang0Wen Xu1Haichun Liu2Yuhan Jing3Donglei Zhou4Yanan Ji5Jerker Widengren6Xue Bai7Hongwei Song8State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin UniversityKey Laboratory of New Energy and Rare Earth Resource Utilization of State Ethnic Affairs Commission, School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Dalian Minzu UniversityDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyKey Laboratory of New Energy and Rare Earth Resource Utilization of State Ethnic Affairs Commission, School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Dalian Minzu UniversityState Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin UniversityKey Laboratory of New Energy and Rare Earth Resource Utilization of State Ethnic Affairs Commission, School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Dalian Minzu UniversityDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyState Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin UniversityState Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin UniversityAbstract Exploring lanthanide light upconversion (UC) has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance the near-infrared (NIR) responsive region of silicon solar cells (SSCs). However, its practical application under normal sunlight conditions has been hindered by the narrow NIR excitation bandwidth and the low UC efficiency of conventional materials. Here, we report the design of an efficient multiband UC system based on Ln3+/Yb3+-doped core-shell upconversion nanoparticles (Ln/Yb-UCNPs, Ln3+ = Ho3+, Er3+, Tm3+). In our design, Ln3+ ions are incorporated into distinct layers of Ln/Yb-UCNPs to function as near-infrared (NIR) absorbers across different spectral ranges. This design achieves broad multiband absorption withtin the 1100 to 2200 nm range, with an aggregated bandwidth of ~500 nm. We have identified a synthetic electron pumping (SEP) effect involving Yb3+ ions, facilitated by the synergistic interplay of energy transfer and cross-relaxation between Yb3+ and other ions Ln3+ (Ho3+, Er3+, Tm3+). This SEP effect enhances the UC efficiency of the nanomaterials by effectively transferring electrons from the low-excited states of Ln3+ to the excited state of Yb3+, resulting in intense Yb3+ luminescence at ~980 nm within the optimal response region for SSCs, thus markedly improving their overall performance. The SSCs integrated with Ln/Yb-UCNPs with multiband excitation demonstrate the largest reported NIR response range up to 2200 nm, while enabling the highest improvement in absolute photovoltaic efficiency reported, with an increase of 0.87% (resulting in a total efficiency of 19.37%) under standard AM 1.5 G irradiation. Our work tackles the bottlenecks in UCNP-coupled SSCs and introduces a viable approach to extend the NIR response of SSCs.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-024-01661-5 |
| spellingShingle | Yue Wang Wen Xu Haichun Liu Yuhan Jing Donglei Zhou Yanan Ji Jerker Widengren Xue Bai Hongwei Song A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells Light: Science & Applications |
| title | A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells |
| title_full | A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells |
| title_fullStr | A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells |
| title_short | A multiband NIR upconversion core-shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells |
| title_sort | multiband nir upconversion core shell design for enhanced light harvesting of silicon solar cells |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-024-01661-5 |
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